With that 3-1 take down of Honduras, the US has now stretched their record winning streak to ten games. No losses. No ties. Just good, old, American wins. George Washington wouldn’t have had any time for this tie stuff and now neither do the Stars and Stripes.
The skeptics will point out how none of the teams that the US has faced in its last 10 games have been anywhere close to the skill level of the Belgian side that beat us 4-2 in May. Fine. Whatever. Be that way. It’s not our fault we play in CONCACAF. You can only beat who you face.
Landon Donovan scores the second U.S. goal Wednesday against Honduras.
Still, the difference from past winning runs to this one is a difference of quality. Not necessarily in the quality of the opposition, but in the quality of the US side dispatching opponents. The US has played with far more class and flair now than at any time I can remember, even that wonderful bunch that reached the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup.
Again, you can point to the quality of the opposition, but remember, in the Gold Cup (where half of their streak has come), the US is also fielding a B-team. We have faced both Honduras and Costa Rica, and bossed the play, winning 3-1 and 1-0 respectively. You can point out that the US has only had one shut out against while playing against teams like Belize, Cuba and El Salvador (and the shutout was against Costa Rica oddly enough), when you score 19 goals in five games, keeping a clean sheet is much less of an imperative.
In the past the US has struggled to unlock teams when they play a park-the-bus style defense. Not now. This US team has shown the creativity to break down anything thrown their way and then to break it down again and again.
The bottom line is that the US is finally playing with the verve and pizazz that Jurgen Klinsmann promised when he was hired. Pundits should like Jeff Carlisle should fault finding with the quality of opponents and appreciate a fine spell of the beautiful game for the Stars and Stripes.
If the analysts are really so concerned about the quality of the opposition, perhaps they should hang ten on the switching confederations bandwagon.
Who Cares? 